Free Medical Card for Media Persons

What is the Free Medical Card for Media Persons?

Free Medical Card for Media Persons is a facility provided by the Government of Puducherry to working journalists in the Union Territory. It is not a modern scheme with an application portal and a sanction order. It is a long-standing entitlement created by a notification, and the card is simply the document that proves it at a hospital counter.

According to the Citizen's Charter of the Department of Information and Publicity, Government of Puducherry, the facility was created by G.O. Ms. No. 97 dated 31 December 1987, by which the Government decided "to provide free medical facility to the press correspondents and members of their family in Government hospitals/institutions under the control of the Administration."

The charter sets out what the facility contains:

• Free treatment in the government hospitals and institutions of Puducherry.
• Entitlement to A class special wards. In the absence of such wards, wards of the next lower category are provided.
• Hospital stoppages and investigation charges are also included in the free medical facility.

The Press Section of the Directorate of Information and Publicity issues the identification cards and certificates to eligible media persons for this purpose. The Press Section's published functions include the issue of identity cards, free medical treatment cards and accreditation cards, so the medical card sits alongside the media identity card in the same office.

Who is eligible for the free medical card?

The facility follows the media person identity card, so eligibility for the medical card is derived from eligibility for the identity card.

You can apply if:

• You are a press correspondent working in the Union Territory of Puducherry.
• You hold a valid media person identity card issued by the Directorate of Information and Publicity, Government of Puducherry. The charter requires a copy of this card to be enclosed.
• Your family members are to be covered — the 1987 order extends the facility to members of the family.

You are not eligible if:

• You do not hold a current media person identity card from the Directorate. An expired card, or a card issued by another state, does not support a claim.
• You are not working as a press correspondent in the Union Territory. The Directorate maintains media lists and issues identity cards according to the Government's rules and the recommendations of the Media Identity Card Committee.
• You want the facility for treatment in a private hospital. The entitlement is confined to government hospitals and institutions under the control of the Administration.

The Directorate publishes a separate application for the Puducherry Media Representatives Identity Card, which is the necessary first step for anybody who does not already hold one.

What documents are required for the free medical card?

The Citizen's Charter names three things, and no more.

There is no income certificate, no residence certificate and no medical document. This is one of the few Puducherry entitlements that runs on a letter and a photograph.

How to apply for the Free Medical Card for Media Persons

1. Confirm that your media person identity card is valid. If it has expired, apply first for renewal through the Directorate's Press Section. The Citizen's Charter notes that renewal of an old card for an eligible media person of an established media organisation takes two working days, and issue of a new card takes about one week.
2. Write a formal letter to the Director, Directorate of Information and Publicity, Government of Puducherry, requesting issue of the Free Medical Card. State your name, the media organisation you work for, your designation and your media identity card number.
3. Enclose a copy of your valid media person identity card issued by the Directorate.
4. Enclose two passport size photographs.
5. Submit the letter at the Directorate of Information and Publicity, 18 Bellcombe Street, Puducherry - 605001, which is the address the Directorate publishes for media applications, or send it to the Director by post.
6. Collect the card. The Citizen's Charter records that the Free Medical Card will be issued within a working day of receipt.

How to use the card at a government hospital

Carry the Free Medical Card along with your media identity card when you or a family member goes for treatment at a government hospital or institution of the Union Territory. Present it at the admission or billing counter, not after the bill has been raised.

The entitlement, as the Citizen's Charter records it, is to an A class special ward. If that hospital does not have A class special wards, the entitlement is to a ward of the next lower category. Free treatment includes hospital stoppages and investigation charges, which means diagnostic tests ordered as part of the treatment are covered as well.

The facility does not extend to treatment taken outside the government hospital system of Puducherry, and there is no reimbursement route published for private treatment under this facility.

What other schemes does the Directorate run for media persons?

The Department of Information and Publicity administers a small set of welfare measures for journalists in the Union Territory, and a media person applying for one should know about the others:

• Free bus pass in Pondicherry Road Transport Corporation buses, except town buses, introduced from April 2007 for professional journeys.
• Pension benefits to journalists, 2002. A monthly pension for journalists in indigent circumstances, with conditions including 58 years of age, not less than 20 years of full-time service as an Editor, Reporter, Sub-Editor, Press Photographer or Correspondent, accreditation with the Government of Puducherry, and a family income ceiling.
• Media identity cards and accreditation cards, issued by the Press Section on the recommendation of the Media Identity Card Committee.
• Awards to the best journalist and best photo journalist.
• Press Clubs in Puducherry, Karaikal and Yanam regions, the Puducherry one at No. 1 Manakula Vinayagar Koil Street.

Why an application may be held up

• Media identity card expired or not enclosed. This is the document the whole facility rests on.
• Photographs not enclosed. Two passport size photographs are needed for the card to be made.
• Letter not addressed to the Director. The charter specifies a formal letter to the Director, not an informal request at a counter.
• Applicant not on the Directorate's media list. The Directorate maintains media lists and issues cards according to government rules and guidelines; a person not on the list has to establish media person status first.

Because the stated turnaround is one working day, a delay almost always means one of the enclosures is missing rather than that the file is stuck.

Where to apply and how to raise a grievance

Applications and queries go to the Press Section, Directorate of Information and Publicity, Government of Puducherry, 18 Bellcombe Street, Puducherry - 605001. The Directorate publishes its press section functions, application forms and Citizen's Charter at info.py.gov.in.

A grievance that the Directorate does not settle can be taken up through the Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) against the Government of Puducherry.

The card is issued free of cost. No fee is payable for the letter, the card or its renewal.

How to check your application status

There is no online portal, application ID or SMS tracking system for the Free Medical Card. The facility runs entirely on a paper letter submitted to the Directorate of Information and Publicity, so checking on it means following up with the Press Section directly rather than logging into any website.

• Visit the Press Section in person. Since the Citizen's Charter records a one working day turnaround, the most reliable check is to go back to the Directorate of Information and Publicity, 18 Bellcombe Street, Puducherry - 605001, a day or two after submitting the letter and ask the Press Section staff whether the card has been prepared.
• Call or write to the Directorate. No dedicated helpline number is published for the medical card facility, so a query has to go through the Directorate's general office contact or a written follow-up letter referencing the date of the original application and the applicant's media identity card number.
• Keep proof of submission. Since there is no digital acknowledgment, note the date the letter was handed in or the postal tracking number if it was sent by post. This is the only reference point available when following up, as there is no application number issued at submission.
• Escalate through CPGRAMS if there is no response. If the card has not been issued well beyond the stated one working day turnaround and the Press Section does not respond to a follow-up, the matter can be raised through the Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System against the Government of Puducherry, the same channel used for other grievances against the Directorate.

Because the process is a short offline exchange rather than a tracked digital application, most delays are resolved by a direct visit or phone call to the Press Section rather than by any status-check tool.